Is TikTok replacing Google search?

Ready for a blast from the past? Indiana Jones and Short Round, reunited after 38 years.

Hot off the SMB press:

• How to support Hispanic Heritage month (without being cringe-y). 
• Your SMB’s playbook for harnessing the power of TikTok.
• 12 tips from startup leaders on effective decision-making.

JUNTOS PODEMOS

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month. Here’s how your SMB can show support.

Tomorrow marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, a time where the U.S. recognizes the contributions made by the Hispanic and Latinx community to the history, culture, and achievements of the country.

And businesses play a large role in that. In fact, according to the Small Business Association, one out of four new businesses are owned by Hispanics, and these businesses contribute more than $800B to the U.S. economy every year.

As an SMB, what can I do to show my support?
Plenty! One simple way you show your employees and customers your business’ support is by turning to your social media feeds. According to LaterBlog, “well-crafted, researched posts go a long way in building trust between you and your followers.” You can provide facts and statistics that help educate your audience, or use some of that social real estate to lift up a fellow Hispanic/Latinx SMB or partner.

I’d love to also show support internally. Have any pointers for that?
Sure do. Showing your support for Hispanic and Latinx team members can go a long way toward making them feel welcome and included. But those efforts shouldn’t be relegated to just one month out of the year. Here are a few actionable things your SMB can do to show support:

1. Launch a Hispanic/Latinx ERG. Employees resource groups are not only a great way to establish a sense of community, but they give team members a safe space at work where they can feel empowered to bring their best, authentic selves to the table.
2. Get community input and share traditions. Involve your Hispanic and Latinx employees! Ask if they’d feel comfortable talking about some of their traditions, personal experiences, or family history. (But avoid tokenism — there’s a fine line here.)‍
3. Arrange for a speaker or presentation. Reach out to your local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce or a community organization that can suggest speakers and topics that highlight the Hispanic/Latinx community.

COUNTDOWN: 1 WEEK LEFT

Have you ever wondered:

• How an Olympic gold medalist goes from running track to running a business?
• What it takes to grow a single niche blowout salon into over 150 franchise locations?
• What the heck a purple cow has to do with marketing?

Find the answers at Playbook 2022! Plus, access valuable tips on leveling up your business, building a winning company culture, and developing frictionless sales from the leaders behind Liquid Death, Hubspot, Basecamp, and many more!

Two days — absolutely free, totally digital, and completely candid. The fun starts just next week. So, what’re you waiting for?

👉 Register here.

IT’S TIKTOK O’CLOCK

How your SMB can harness the power of TikTok today

You know it, we know it:
With over 1B monthly active users, TikTok is no longer just a social media trend for the younger crowd. Now, it’s a full-fledged marketing tool for businesses of all sizes — and it’s not too late for your SMB to jump on board.

In case you’re wondering if you need a TikTok account…
You should really consider it. Tons of businesses benefit from its ability to garner more exposure and connect with customers. Plus, it’s the number one app for driving purchases.

And, according to Google, 40% of Gen Zers prefer using TikTok and Instagram to search online versus Google. Meaning that if you want to reach a younger audience, TikTok is gonna be the best tool in your arsenal.

TikTok might seem intimidating, but once you get comfortable, you’ll be producing viral content in no time. Here’s how to get started:

1. Create your account. Sign up as a business account to get access to marketing tools, engagement metrics, and running paid ads.‍
2. Decide on your content strategy. Unboxing videos, teaching skills, behind-the-scenes (or, BTS if you’re with the lingo) — your possibilities are endless! Look into what other business accounts are doing (warning: the dangers of getting caught in the infinite scroll are real).

👉 Check out the rest of the steps.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Startup leaders spill their decision-making blind spots. Here’s where they went wrong.

Decisions are hard.
When you give your people autonomy, information, and the right tools, you can delegate decision-making to other leaders in your org. That way, decisions are made based on strengths and the whole team has ownership of them. Chances are good that if a problem is brought all the way up to you, it’s not easy to solve.

Small business leaders who recognized their own blind spots shared advice so you can avoid their same oversights when the ball is in your court.

Here’s how to make better decisions:

1. Give and receive feedback.
Deepa Tailor, founder and managing director of Tailor Law, admitted that before she adopted a feedback system, she wasn’t seeing the employee view of the decisions she was making. Now, she insists that gathering employee feedback (the right way) is the key to making not only viable and profitable, but also personalized, diverse, and inclusive decisions.

2. Test new things and pivot as needed.
According to Sara Martlage, customer growth manager here at Trainual, it’s important to have departmental alignment and collaboration via the right tools as you experiment. “With the right team members and accountability,” she testifies, “there shouldn’t be decision-making blindspots.”

👉 Read ten more pieces of advice.

TL;DR

Headlines that caught our attention this week

• Win $500 this month. Trainual is gathering data from thousands of small businesses to help you understand what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to training, retaing, and gaining. Answer a few questions about your org and be auto-entered to win a $500 Amazon gift card. Plus you’ll be one of the very first to get the exclusive, full survey results when they’re in. Hurry — the survey is only open through this Friday!
• Bank of A-care-ica. The leading U.S. bank announced the launch of their small business down payment grant program to drive growth and opportunity for minority and women-owned businesses. They’re dishing out those bills and change. And we’re here for it. See if your market qualifies you for some extra support.
• Don’t be mean, be green. Your friend’s lookin’ like Sandra Bullock with a bird box as they go on date after date with big, red flags — and it drives you up the wall. But what color flags are you waving in the faces of your prospective candidates? Follow the footsteps of great places to work and show some thoughtful, clever green flags that’ll make interviewees choose you right back.

WE HAVE A PODCAST

What you might’ve missed on Organize Chaos 

Hold up… you didn’t know we had a podcast? Get ready to go down an SMB rabbit hole, Alice. ‘Cause every weekday, founder and CEO of Trainual, Chris Ronzio, hosts the Organize Chaos podcast. It’s chock full of entrepreneurial and small business leadership advice covering everything from people to processes to productivity — and how to organize your life around it all.

Last week, Scott Friesen of Simpletivity Training shared his best tips and hacks on maximizing the workday and supercharging productivity. If you’ve ever wanted to squeeze more time in your day or felt like you just didn’t accomplish everything on your to-do list (we’re feeling just a tiny bit personally attacked here), Scott and Chris break down how to be your most productive and effective self — in a just-under 45 minute episode.

But, if you only have 10 minutes to spare:

• Check out Chris’ thoughts on Malcolm Gladwell’s remote work criticism. ‍
• Or, why quality is more important that quantity during a recession.